Communicating scientific findings toward non-experts is a vital part of cryosphere science. However, when it comes to climate change and its impact, the gap between scientific knowledge and human action has never been so evident (see for instance, the publication of the latest IPCC special report). Today, our image of the week features an interview with Cryo Connect, a new initiative for more efficient flow of information between cryosphere scientists and information seekers.
Why have you decided to come up with an initiative like Cryo Connect?
Currently, information seekers such as journalists, policy makers, teachers and stakeholders often resort to internet search engines to find experts for answering specific questions about the cryosphere. Or they return to the same expert they have interacted with in the past. Either way, it is unlikely that they end up receiving information from the expert that knows most about the topic, or even in the preferred language. Some organizations have their own science outreach portals, but a truly global and inclusive network of cryosphere experts willing to provide insights to those seeking information has been lacking. For this reason, we established Cryo Connect.
Number of Cryo Connect experts for each cryospheric component. [Credit: Cryo connect]
How does it work exactly?
Cryo Connect is run as a non-profit organization. We are an official EGU Cryospheric Sciences partner and provide a free, online gateway through which experts and information seekers can reach out. Here, not only can information seekers find answers, but scientists can also actively promote their latest findings, pushing press releases (screened but unmodified by Cryo Connect) towards information seekers. All cryosphere scientists globally can sign up as experts allowing them to boost their visibility (especially with respect to those ranking high on internet search engines), irrespective of their career stage, ethnicity, gender or the languages that they master.
Number of Cryo Connect experts for each cryosphere region. [Credit: Cryo connect]
How has Cryo Connect been doing so far?
Although still in our first year, by October 2018 Cryo Connect has already grown to a community of 98 experts based in 22 countries across the planet. Together, they can provide information on all components of all cryospheric regions in the world – in 19 different languages! Researchers make up about two-fifths of the expert database, while PhD students, senior researchers and professors each constitute a ⅕ part. Lots of knowledge to go around.
Career stage of Cryo Connect experts. [Credit: Cryo connect]
What’s the take-home message for scientists?
That all cryosphere scientists around the globe are invited to sign up as a Cryo Connect expert to increase their visibility to the media and other information seekers. The platform works best, and attracts more information seekers with an even larger expert population from all corners of the planet. And don’t forget to tweet about your latest peer-reviewed publication using the @CryoConnect Twitter handle for increased media exposure!
Edited by Sophie Berger
Cryo-connect is an initiative run by Dirk van As, Faezeh Nick, William Colgan and Inka Koch
